Looking Back

New Betz Park design still retains all amenities city said it would build

A new configuration for the 50-acre park was unveiled at last week’s meeting of the Cheney Park board. The Thursday, Jan. 19 meeting also featured a discussion with Let’s Move, Cheney! Consultant Adam Fletcher about the organization’s five-year strategic plan. Park board members shared their opinions on what Cheney was doing well and what was lacking in terms of opportunities and support for folks seeking to live healthier lifestyles. Parks and Recreation Department director Paul Simmons showed the board updated conceptual plans for a portion of the 50-acre park along Betz Road. The portion, which will include a softball field, Little League baseball field, and a Challenger field for disabled athletes, will be funded by a $500,000 state grant. Simmons said the plans for the work had been altered to save costs and to make the first phase of the park more inviting. “We worked with the engineer and we worked with city staff to come up with a slightly different design, but still have all of the amenities that we said we would develop in the grant.

The major change to the plan was moving the fields closer to Betz.Road. Park board member Kelley Cullen raised concerns that the fields would be too close to the road, but Simmons said the edge of the fields were still quite a distance away. Park board member Tony Tobin asked why the development was moved away from its original configuration, which had the fields set back from the road, leaving space for a potential future soccer field between the ball fields and the road.

Grant funds Medical Lake ‘s robotics class, club

Two Medical Lake schools are gearing up to provide in class and after school instruction for students, expanding the curriculum for science and engineering. High school teacher Ann Everett said the high school is planning an Introduction to Engineering course through the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. The program will receive funding through the a $20,000 grant from the state, one of the few Everett said was actually funded.

Medical Lake was one of 13 school districts in the state to receive the grant. As a result, there is no cost for students to take part in this course. The high school is planning for its engineering course to have content for each grade level. Everett said it will take elements for the Mead School District, which has had a similar program for three years. While planning for the first two years of instruction in the engineering course is nearly complete, she said the third year is somewhat flexible at this point. The fourth year of the course will essentially be a capstone project for students. Some of money received from the grant will go toward an after-school robotics club at the middle school, providing eight LEGO robotics kits for students to use.

20 years ago

January 24, 2002

New police officer hits the streets in Cheney

Cheney residents will see a new but familiar looking face behind the wheel of the patrol car, as Kelly Hembach officially joined the city’s police force last week. Hembach returns to Cheney where he served as a reserve police officer for three years, starting in 1987. He left Cheney to take a deputy job with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department. After 11 years of driving the long stretches of western Lincoln County, Hembach decided it was time to get back to policing a more compact area. He also remembered the close-knit nature of the CPD. “I really wanted to get back to the family-type atmosphere they have here,” Hembach said. “It was positive and upbeat when I was here before and I began to miss that.” But don’t think there aren’t things Hembach will miss about his Lincoln County gig, though. He spent six years as the marine enforcement officer, patrolling Lake Roosevelt by Jet Ski-swimming pool patrol in Cheney won’t be quite as glamorous. Also, through the county’s D.A.R.E. program, which he directed for three-and-a-half years, Hembach received a Pontiac Firebird for his patrol car. It’s Crown Vics only in Cheney. “There are only two things I’ll miss about my former job – the Firebird and the Jet Skis.” Hembach said.

Fire business was good to MLFD

If you can have a good year for fire fighting, then Medical Lake’s fire department has had a banner year in 2001. The volunteer department made great strides in retaining and training its members, as well as bringing in additional revenue for the city through participation in the Washington State Fire Services Resource Mobilization Plan, according to the department’s annual report released last week. The department earned $11,163 by sending a four-person fire crews and brush apparatus to wild fires in Brewster, Chelan and along the Washington/Oregon border last summer. The state mobilization plan brought in about $7,000 in revenue to the department in 2000. Being able to send qualified personnel out on state fires is partly due to what Medical Lake fire chief Gino Palomino considers the department’s two biggest achievements in 2001 – keeping the department staffed and equipped with the latest fire fighting and emergency training. The number of volunteer firefighters nationally has declined 5-10 percent since 1983, according to statistics provided by the National Volunteer Fire Council. The Council cites increased demands on time and training, and the proliferation of two-income families as several factors contributing to the decline.

January 27, 1972

30 years ago

Wheelchair Champion to Visit Marshall Church

The Rev. Jack Chase, member of the national champion wheelchair basketball team, will speak at the Community Church in Marshall beginning Sunday and lasting through Feb.6. Services will begin at 7:30 p.m. nightly (except Saturday) announced the pastor, the Rev. Wayne Woody. At the age of 20, Rev. Mr. Chase was stricken with polio leaving his limbs paralyzed. Since then, he has attended the University of Illinois and after graduating, enrolled at L.I.F.E. Bible College in Los Angeles. Upon completion of his studies there he entered the ministry. While in California, he played basketball with the “Flying Wheels,” a team composed of disabled veterans, and was priviledged to meet President and Mrs. Eisenhower while playing basketball in Washington, D.C.

He also has appeared on several national coast to coast Radio and T.V. programs including “Strike It Rich,” “Welcome Travelers,” and “You Asked For It” In the summer of 1962, Rev. Chase was one of eighteen wheelchair personell to go on an extensive tour of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and Europe. Rev. Chase won first place in the “Salaom” obstacle course race and played on the United States Wheelchair Basketball Team which won the World Championship in the Para-Olympic games in London, England. Rev. Chase will demonstrate his skill in a wheelchair on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Windsor gymnasium. Afterwards, he will speak to those present.

Nixon Wins Primary Vote

A preliminary primary election was held on the EWSC campus Jan. 19 with rather surprising results. President Nixon received 235 votes compared with the highest rating Democratic candidate, Henry Jackson, who received 131. Paul McCloskey, Republican candidate for President, received a higher number of votes than the Democrat with 93 votes.

Edmund Muskie, Democrat, received 71. Ted Kennedy on the Democratic list was next. John Lindsay and George McGovern, Democrats, both got 36 votes, Eugene McCarthy got 34 and George Wallace, 33. John R. Ashbrook, a Republican and the last candidate on the Republican list, received 24 votes. Shirley Chisholm, Democratic candidate, received 20 votes; Hubert Humphrey received 12, Sam Yorty 3, and Vance Hartke, 0. A total of 839 students voted.